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Currently Available 2 Element (Achromatic) Close-up Lenses


Manufacturer Model # Size Diopters Lens FL Mfgr Catalog # B & H Price
Brenner catalog [1] unnamed 52 or 58 mm +6.0 ? mm 42552, 42558 DEM 129
Canon [2] 250D 52 or 58 mm +4.0 50-135 mm C543861, C543871 $69.00, $82.99
Canon 500D 52 or 58 mm +2.0 70-300 mm C543881, C543891 $69.00, $82.95
Canon 500D 72 or 77 mm +2.0 70-300 mm C543901, C54391 $115.00, $134.95
Heliopan [3] Achromat Close Up 49, 55, 67, 82 mm +3, 4, 5, 6 none given 1049, 1055, 1067, 1082 $232, $278, $464, $603
Hoya [4] Macro Close-Up filter 49, 52, 55 mm +10 50mm ?? $74.95
Leica [5] Elpro 1, 2 44, 55 mm +2.5, 4.9 50 mm 16541, 16542 DEM 253
Leica Elpro 3, 4 55 mm 1.66, 0.75 90-135 mm 16543, 16544 DEM 299
Minolta [6] No. 0 49 or 55 mm +0.94 50-200 mm 6711110, 6031530 $29.95
Minolta No. 1 49 or 55 mm +2.0 24-200 mm 6711120, 6031540 $29.95
Minolta No. 2 49 or 55 mm +3.8 24-50 mm 6711130, 6031550 $29.95
Nikon [7] 3T, 4T 52 mm +1.5, +2.9 80-200 mm 2736, 2737 $29.95
Nikon 5T, 6T 62 mm +1.5, +2.9 80-200 mm 4536, 4537 $42.95
Olympus [8] Close-up lens 80mm Macro f=170mm 49 mm +5.9 for 80mm f4 auto-macro 104004 $??.??
Olympus [8] iS/L Lens A-Macro 49 mm +2.5 for IS-1000/IS-2000 cameras ? $??.??
Olympus [8] iS/L Lens A-Lifesize Macro 49 mm +7.7 (3 element) for IS-2000 camera ? $??.??
Olympus [8] iS/L Lens B-Macro 55 mm +2.5 for IS-3 camera 103895 $94.95
Pentax [9] S33, S56 58 mm +3, +1.8 75mm on 645 38411, 38412 $79.95
Pentax S82 67 mm +1.22 90-105mm on 6x7 37830 $99.95
Pentax T132, T226 67 mm +0.76, +0.44 150-200mm, 200mm on 6x7 37831, 37832 $99.95
Sigma [10] Close-up lens 58 mm +1.6 70-300 mm 501AML $39.95
Tokina [11] ?? 72 mm < +1 (guess) for AT-X 840AF lens (80-400mm) CUP840 $59.95
Vivitar [12] Life Size Attachment 49 mm +3.3?? 100 mm c/w 100mm f3.5 Macro lens $114.95-$169.95
Any mfgr [13] 50mm lens f2 or faster Varies +20 telephoto Varies Varies. Mounting ring ~$10

Notes:

  1. The Brenner catalog does not list the manufacturer of their CU lens. Price shown is in German Marks.

  2. Canon Germany's sales catalog still lists the 240 (+4.2) and 450 (+2.2) achromatic closeup lenses in 52mm size.

  3. Heliopan prices are US list. Dealers may sell for less. Heliopan doesn't make any recommendations about what lens focal lengths work best with their CU lenses.

  4. The Hoya info was provided by M. Lombardi. He also stated that he has tried the B+W +10 diopter CU lens and that the B+W isn't achromatic and thus shows colour fringing. The Hoya filter is shown as being available in 58mm size on the THK (Hoya distributor) web page but not on B & H's page. B+W does make +1, +2 and +3 diopter achromatic closeup lenses in 138mm size for film/video use.

  5. Leica info courtesy of Dieter Lefeling and Thomas Schreyegg. The prices are from a large German mailorder house "Wuerzburger Fotoversand" and are in German Marks. (Prices from August 1999).

  6. Minolta CU lenses are designed for 50mm lenses but will work with lens FL's of the range indicated.

  7. Len FL info is according to John Shaw in his book "Closeups in Nature". Prices updated Nov23/99 from B & H web page.

  8. New: The IS closeup lenses without pricing info may be discontinued. (Additional info appreciated).

  9. The Pentax lens info was provided by Pentax USA and prices were taken from the B & H web page in July 98. The Pentax CU lenses for 35mm cameras are not listed because they are single element lenses. The CU lenses shown are designed for Pentax's 645 and 67 cameras but would likely work on 35 mm camera lenses with the correct filter size. Pentax CU lens names are S or T followed by the lens focal length in centimetres. The S means that the CU lens is designed for a short focal length lens, generally the normal lens for that format (50mm in 35mm format, 75 mm in 645 format etc). The T stands for Telephoto and thus are meant to be used with telephoto lenses in that format (80mm and up in 35mm format etc). To convert the cm focal length into diopters divide 100 by the cm (eg. the T33 is 100/33= 3 diopters).

  10. Reportedly is a 2-element CU lens. B & H web page shows that it works with a number of lenses which have differing filter sizes. A contributor reports the strength as +1.6 diopters and says it is of very high optical quality.

  11. New: The Tokina lens focuses to 2.5m (equal to +0.4 diopters from infinity). So the add-on lens is likely less than 1 diopter (perhaps 0.4 or 0.5) which would give a range of focusing from infinity down to a meter or so. Tokina also has a CUP353 close up lens for their 35~300 zoom, but since it sells for $24.95 I have to presume it's not 2-element. (Corrections always appreciated.)

  12. Reported as a 2-element CU lens in the July '96 Pop Photo mini-review of the 100mm f3.5 lens.

  13. Reverse mounting a 50mm lens on the front of a telephoto lens (using a male-male macro coupling ring, $8-$10 from B & H ) will give you extreme closeups. The 50mm lens is well corrected and acts like a +20 diopter CU lens. Mounted on a 200mm telephoto it will give you 4 times life size. There may be some vignetting depending on the 50mm lens speed (use it wide open). This can be reduced or eliminated by focusing the telephoto lens to minimum distance or by using a short extension tube.

Lens FL refers to the focal length of the camera lens that the close up lens is designed for. Use with a different lens FL may cause sharpness to suffer.

Diopters are the optical strength of the CU lens. Its focal length can be calculated by using FL = 1000/Diopters. This is also the distance that will now be in focus when the lens is focused at infinity. (A +2 diopter will bring a subject at 1/2 metre {500mm} away into focus.)

To estimate minimum focus distance convert the camera lens minimum distance to diopters and add it to the CU lens strength. So a +2 CU lens used with a lens that focuses to 1 metre will act (approximately) like a +3 CU lens and bring a subject at 1/3 metre into focus.

Another approach is to calculate magnification. Convert the diopter strength to millimeters focal length (CU FL = 1000/Diopters). Then divide the camera lens FL by the CU lens FL to get the magnification when the lens is focused at infinity. Thus a +2 CU is 500mm FL. If you use it on a 50mm lens you will get 1:10 life size. The same +2 on a 300mm lens will give you 0.6 of lifesize (1:1.66).

Thanks to Henry Posner of B & H for this information. Prices are from April 1998 (except where noted). Contact B & H Photo and Video for current pricing and availability.

If you have any information on any other achromatic CU lenses currently available, please contact me.

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Email: greg.erker_at_shaw.ca